Key Highlights of New GST Returns

“GST gives the honest citizens of the country a chance to be carefree about any kind of illegal pressure.” Shri Piyush Goyal

The new GST return filing process which was introduced in the 27th GST Council meeting has got a green flag in the 28th GST Council meeting held on 21st July 2018 in New Delhi by Finance Minister Shri Piyush Goyal. The main agenda behind it is to simplify business and tax compliance by providing relief to regular taxpayers who are running small scale to medium scale businesses. If you are an entrepreneur, it’s imperative for you to understand the changes in the GST return filing process clearly.

Here are the key highlights of the new GST return filing process…

1. More than 5 Crores Turnover
If your business has a turnover of more than 5 Crore rupees, you are eligible to file a monthly return by filling a simplified GST return form.

2. Turnover up to 5 Crores
Small-scale businesses having turnover up to 5 Crore rupees are eligible to file quarterly returns. The returns can fall in either of the two major categories: Sahaj (taxpayers who report B2C transactions) and Sugam (taxpayers who report both B2B and B2C transactions).

3. Upload-Lock-Pay
The entire GST return filing process has been summed up in three steps: Upload, lock and pay. At first, the seller needs to upload the sales invoice which the buyer can view. The information would be locked for availing input tax credit. Apart from maintaining transparency, this locking procedure would abridge the process of filing GST returns as the businessman won’t have to fill up the input tax credit table manually. Everything would be automatically filled up everytime he uploads the sales invoice.

4. Tax Payer Profiles
All taxpayers would be given a provision of creating their personal profiles based on the nature of their businesses. An analysis would be made out of the provided information and, the GST portal will display only the relevant options that need to be filled by the individual.

5. Nil Return by SMS
The taxpayers can file their return through an SMS in case of no purchase and no sale.

6. Provision to Amend Return Filed
For amendment of invoices, the taxpayers will be allowed to file a new type of return referred to as ‘amendment return’.

Conclusion
In a nutshell, the new GST returns is a sensible step taken by the GST Council to rationalize the process of filing GST returns. New return filing process is expected to come into action in January 2019.